Long Time No See

I've been sick and very very busy at work, so that's my excuse. Sorry I've been away for awhile. I'm preparing for a trip to France for two weeks.

Going to Paris and cycling the Loire Valley. Please comment below and let me know what you'd like to see. I'm thinking of doing a simple travelogue, and, of course, in Paris, there will be some makeup and some fashion, because that place is modelopolis twenty-four seven - lots of eye candy everywhere.

Here is a collection of looks from the last two weeks, and some products I hadn't gotten around to photographing, and my little depotted palette of lippies for your viewing enjoyment!

 I've had this Sleek cream base palette for a while and am finally getting around to using it. Thinking of taking it to Paris, but I'll be test driving it first. Planning on putting it over my MAC Soft Ochre paint pot to see if it will crease or not. I love the variety of colors in there!

 On this day I was wearing a cherry-colored cardigan, so I thought I'd pull the blue out of it and onto the center of my lids with some irridescent Naked Cosmetics Twilight action. This Twilight collection has lovely iridescent cool tones. I used the darker periwinkle in this set. These pigments are lovely and I haven't heard enough about them. Go check them out at nakedcosmetics.com.

 This was a burgundy eye look using Naked Cosmetics Urban Rustic collection. I just love using burgundy on my eyelids for a bold look. It's a strong look, and yet takes fewer steps to achieve. This kind of round filling in of the eyelid reminds me of the look of silent film stars. It has some mystery and romance. I did very little else on my face, but I think this would look so cool with a similar lip shade for evening.

 Hooded eyes hide the burgundy when I'm looking at you.

 I love this black velvet jacket. I got it at TJ Maxx a million years ago, but it's going to Paris with me.

 This aqua blue shade on my eyes is also from the Naked Cosmetics Twilight set. It's a warmer blue, slightly dreamy and tropical, but I just use it as a sheer wash here. I'm pretty sure I used the NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk to get this look.

 And here's a neutral eye look with some warm browns in the crease. These kinds of shades are easy to find, but I must say, I'm still totally in love with my Mehron naturals palette. The shades are so true, matte, pigmented and blendable, and I can do an entire eye look with one brush - my bdellium 776 in the yellow bambu collection, which is a dupe for the MAC 217 brush.

 A warm pink lip shade brings out the warmth of this neutral eye look.

 Here's my Zpalette with all, and I mean ALL of my Revlon Just Bitten Balmstains depotted into it. Each of these little tins is metallic, so you can rearrange the shades to your heart's content. And I used a candle to gently melt the product into the tins, once I'd scraped them gently out of the tubes.

I also mixed together 2/3 Revlon Cherries in the Snow and 1/3 Revlon Fire and Ice for the one in the upper right hand corner. Top Left is Milani's new lipstick in Red Label.

I don't think you can do Paris without a few Red Lip days, do you?

Anyway, thanks for dropping by. Please let me know what you are up to in the comments below, and see you sooner than later, this time, Lovely Peeps!

Love, Beautyjones!

MS Bay to Bay Bike Ride and Rainproof Look!

Hi, Beauty Fans! This post is going to be fairly different from my usual Face of the Day or sample-box-opening video. When I started getting back in shape physically after, well, forever, I did it by signing up for athletic events through my company. My company is very committed to community outreach and volunteering, so the athletic events I did had a fundraising and charitable element to them.

Through this one event, I got to know other folks who did other events, and I came to join friends to do the Ride to End MS, aka the MS Bay to Bay, which is one of many many events, including walks, runs and bike rides that take place all over the USA to raise funds to fight MS, a terrible debilitating disease.

This is my third year doing this ride, and although it’s 100 miles of biking in two days, it made my legs burn like crazy, and I was bone tired at the end, it was so satisfying. Not only is it a very worthy cause, it is a beautiful ride, even in the rain. The sun came out just as we were reaching the prettiest of the oceanside vistas. The volunteers are so wonderful, cheering us on, and reminding us why we are doing it. I recommend you check out this link to learn more about helping fight MS: nationalmssociety.org.

Face:

• Neutrogena Sportface Sun block – ha ha. No sun until the last hour, so oh, well!

Cheeks:

• Jouer Tint in Bronzed to contour under cheekbones 
• Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in 9, a bright peachy coral, on apples of cheeks

Eyes

• Make Up For Ever Waterproof Aqua Cream in 15, a bronzey Taupe
• Make Up For Ever Aquacolor black pencil smoked out over the bronzey Aquacolor on lids and 2/3 of the way from outer corner in on lower lash line, and tightlined on upper and lower lash lines. Blend, blend and blend!
• Jane Iredale mascara sealed and waterproofed on top with lots of Anastasia Lash Genius. 
• Milani Brow Pen in 01

Lips:

• Revlon Just Bitten Balmstain in Adore, three coats applied, and blotted in between to make the color last

Here are my photos and, as you can see, this look lasted for 40 miles of biking on Sunday!

Freshly Applied

At the Top of Torrey Pines climb

Cheers, Beauty Fans!

xxxooo, BeautyJones

No Raccoon Eye Video for My Mom

Recently I had a chance to visit my Mom in NYC and have dinner for her birthday. We got to chatting about makeup, and she was asking about how to put on eye makeup so it doesn't move around and streak downward to create that dreaded Raccoon Eye.

I realized that since I got serious about beauty blogging in March, I've been doing lots of research on this, and have come up with some pretty good tips and helpful products.

So here's my video on this.

Apologies if I'm whining too much about the heat in my office during the vid. Could have been a hot flash. Who knows?

Anyway, Mom--This one's for you!

And Lovely Readers, I hope you enjoy and I hope there are some pointers in here that help you out a bit on that never-ending quest to keep your makeup looking fresh all day long!

As always, please let me know how you liked this, and feel free to share in the comments below!

Let me know, too, if there's a particular product or technique you'd like to know more about. I feature lots of my drugstore favorites here. The only hard-to-find item is the OCC Lip Tar, which you should really check out. I got mine at The Makeup Show LA, but you can buy them online, too. I also love my Wet n' Wild palette. All those fun subtle shades with such strong pigmentation. This look is great for every day wear, too.

And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel, and to this blog on Bloglovin, or in Google+, or in the RSS Feed Reader of your choice!

Happy Friday!

:)BeautyJones

Olympic Edition: Waterproof Workout Makeup

It's the big day, everybody! Go USA! The opening ceremonies are tonight. And the cycling road race is tomorrow. Apparently if I wanted to I could get up at 2am and watch it on my iPad. We'll see if my home WiFi can really deliver that. Hmmm.

I am thrilled to see how London does their Olympics!

I'm headed to London in a couple of weeks so I'm reading London history and downloading Tube maps for my mobile devices and virtual guide books. If I have time I'll put together a post on what I'm bringing. I hope to have time to do a photo for that really cool "I am packed" blog that just shows people's stuff neatly folded and arranged for a trip.

But today I have for you a video about makeup you can wear when you are working out, or even when you are doing a race as long as a half marathon. That's the longest race I've run.

Before Tinker Bell Half Marathon January 2012

 Why I Run Road Races, and Why Maybe You Should Too (Fitness)

 

And when I say race, I mean, sort of a stroll. The RunDisney races always have lots to look at, lots of characters to get your picture taken with. I never do these things to set records because, let's face it, I'm not going to do that, but to have fun and to test myself. And to give myself a reason to train. That's one way I try to stay fit. Try it! It works!

Goofy pose after Half Marathon. Sparkle Skirt from Team Sparkle

Race SWAG! Race Expo finds!

 

Plus, running an organized race like the Tinker Bell Half Marathon (sorry, it's already sold out for the 2013 edition, but Run Disney has lots more great races, so check them out!) is just exciting and fun. You get a little swag bag. You get a gorgeous medal!!! You meet fellow weekend warrior athletes, and there's usually an expo where they sell cute workout duds, and great tools to help you as a runner. Tinker Bell's Expo had all kinds of cool running things for girls, like gorgeous Sweatybands.com headbands that stay on, hold your hair back very well. So well the Olympic Beach Vollyball teams could wear them. But they also come in an amazing array of colors, patterns and textures. Seriously, you'll find one to match any outfit. Love! Have to get more!

They also sold wings you can run in with matching skirts and arm warmers. OMG! This year I'll definitely do a haul video on what I pick up. Can't wait!

Here are the products I used to achieve this waterproof look:

Eyes:

• Inner Corner and Browbone: Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream Eye Shadow in 05 Too Cool
• Eyelid: MUFE Aqua Cream in 13 (white gold) on eyelids from lash line to crease
• Crease, outer eyelid "wedge" and outer third of lower lash line: MUFE Aqua Cream in 15 (bronze) Use a dense brush to blend this in quickly at the edges. It sets up quickly and then will not move.
• Mascara: Smashbox Full Exposure in Jet Black, let dry, then coat with Anastasia Lash Genius, which makes every and any mascara waterproof! It works!
• Eye Liner and Tight Line: MUFE Aqua Eyes Pencil in Black 0L
• Eye brow: Milani Brow Tint Pen

Cheeks:

• Apples: MUFE Aqua Cream in 9? (Hey, MUFE folks. First of all, name your colors to make them memorable, second of all, make it so the print of the shade doesn't wear off the packaging so easily.) A pretty coral pink shade you can also use on lips.
• Contour: Jouer Luminizing Moisure tint in bronze. If you are darker than me, check out a nice matte brown shade in the MUFE line. It will last better than this probably will. This is just what I had to hand. I like how it blends, though.

Face:

• The high SFF product of your choice that doesn't pill under foundation: Try Neutrogena Sport Face
• Aveda Mineral Tinted Moisture in 02/Beechwood. I like a tinted moisturizer because anything heavier will run and get all over your cute workout duds.
• Concealer: My fave is Dermablend in my shade, Sand. Try not to use this if you can avoid it. I, personally, need a bit of coverage.
• Powder: Bare Minerals Mineral Veil. You gotta set the cream products
• Powder Concealer: Bare Minerals Bisque. This will make your concealer not sweat off quite so quickly.

Lips:

• Smashbox Limitless Lip Stain & Color Seal Balm in Sangria. Lasts at least 4 hours on me!!! But the name is too darned long. Smashbox, I love you. Explore the beauty of pithiness in the naming of your products.

Here's my video! Happy working out! Let me know if you test these products. I'd love to hear how it goes. Get up and get moving. It's great for your health, good mood, and well being!

:)BeautyJones

Perry the Platypus Mani for Phineas and Ferb

Working on a special event for this show!

Shameless plug: Watch Phineas and Ferb on Disney Channel.

Products used:
• Butter London Slapper
• Spoiled bright yellow
• Milani Nail Art Orange - great little striper brushes in these
• Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat

The Value of Good Service

As a result of an internet outage at my house, I'm way behind on my blogging, YouTube video uploads, and blog surfing.

Remember when companies actually had good service? Apparently that time has passed for AT&T Local Phone Service and Earthlink. So has my time as their customer for home phone (who needs that anyway?) and DSL (since we are now switching to cable modem service, we don't need phone service). Note to big corporations. Stop wheeling and dealing and get you some customer service. Laissez-faire economics and capitalism means we have choices. The customer is always right. So long suckaz!

Turns out this is actually a pretty appropriate post for the week of Independence Day. Let me, everyone I know and love, and all of you lovely readers be free of the tyranny of bad business practices and companies that don't care about the customer experience.

Here are the products I used for my 4th of July manicure. Pictures, too!

I love my Julep America. It's so pretty and the stars are so cool. I also love the Nicole for OPI Kardasshian Courtney needs a Pedi red I used in this mani. It's so candy-like. Kind of jelly-ish and a bit sheer. But yummy with the 3 coats I gave it. I also adore the OPI designer color I used for the navy blue. It's like a soft sparkly paint you could maybe get on your Schwinn Stingray bike back in the 70s. And lots of folks have been admiring the Milani gold glitter polish I put on the end of the white.

Hope you enjoy!

I say long live competition and anti-trust laws. May we start enforcing them better soon in this country. Like, for instance, maybe individual companies shouldn't own local phone lines, since that is like water and other utilities, and is more of a public service.

God Bless America!

:)BeautyJones

July 4th Manicure and FOTD

Products to follow. Happy 4th, everybody!

<3BeautyJones